Join us as we celebrate the beautiful, locally sourced wedding of WPC couple Kate and Andrew, set amidst a wildflower meadow on Kate's parents' farm in Thorganby, York. From home-grown flowers, to locally sourced food, to a beautiful wedding cake made by Kate's sister, every detail of their sustainable marquee wedding reflected the couple’s passion for nature and the outdoors. Join us as we go behind the scenes of Kate and Andrew’s big day, highlighting their carefully chosen suppliers and share their beautifully curated wedding gift list.
Being able to add custom products was really helpful, and the process was so easy for our guests to follow. Mostly, though, the customer care was fantastic!
I loved the variety of the products offered; there is a fantastic selection of wedding gifts that allows you to choose things with a bit of individuality.
Yes, they have all arrived; it was lovely to receive them all together as a treat after the honeymoon was over and we were into the post-wedding blues!
Everything we received through our wedding gift list!
We also added a honeymoon fund. We had planned to go to Sri Lanka for an adventure; unfortunately, we had to cancel and ended up booking last-minute flights to Croatia and spending a week exploring Dubrovnik, followed by a week on a catamaran exploring lots of the northern Croatian islands! It was gorgeous and actually so relaxing—exactly what we needed after such a busy few months.
It was a surprise engagement on a trip to visit the Christmas Markets in Nuremberg, in a lovely, picturesque village called Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Andrew had been planning it for a while, and I had absolutely no idea!
Sustainability was the core theme for our wedding—this is really important to us. We wanted to ensure that, as much as possible, everything was local or handmade rather than mass-produced - from the flowers that we grew ourselves to the locally sourced food our caterers used, and the homemade wedding cake my sister made!
Instagram was really helpful here, and for each supplier I found and really liked, I looked into who else they worked with and recommended, which helped a lot. I put quite a lot of work into finding people who shared our sustainable wedding ethos.
We had a church wedding, followed by a marquee reception in a wildflower meadow at my parent's farm in Thorganby, York.
Inspired Event Structures, supplied a beautiful sailcloth marquee. They were incredible - the experience was really personal and they went above and beyond for us.
I sourced all our wedding decor myself from various places. The flowers were the main decor, which we grew ourselves.
A dark blue 1966 Mustang Convertible from Classic Car Hire Yorkshire.
Homegrown by my mum and me (@woodfieldflowers on Instagram)—growing our own wedding flowers was a real labour of love. Andy and I love nature and the outdoors, so we wanted a very natural feel with nothing imported, so everything was bee-friendly and grown by us in the field where the wedding took place, with a lot of inspiration from fantastic initiatives like flowers from the farm. This was a real challenge, but one of my favourite parts—and there were flowers EVERYWHERE!
My veil and my dress, were by Lillian West, from Harrogate Wedding Lounge. My wedding dress was a lace floral A-line gown with customised straps. I wanted something flowy and playful, and it matched the floral theme perfectly! The shoes were nude suede block heels from Hobbs. I had flowers in my hair that were picked from the garden that morning.
Hugo Boss stone-coloured linen-style suit, with brown brogues from Loake. Andy wore a handmade linen, rust-coloured tie from The Belfast Bow Company.
Amy George Make-Up for Make-Up: I wanted something really natural as I rarely wear make-up. I found Amy through Instagram and loved her style, and when I reached out, she was so kind and considerate, also taking the time to do a trial for my mum and really setting her at ease. I absolutely loved having her in the morning!
Hair was Lauren McCrae Wedding Hair; she's been my hairdresser for years, and when she started doing wedding hair, I knew she was the one! She made it so personal and really worked with my vision for natural hair with flowers.
I found bridesmaid dresses really hard—I'd planned for something quite relaxed and mismatched based on what my bridesmaids liked; however, my sisters found some pale blue embroidered dresses from Monsoon that they loved - everyone tried them on and looked stunning in them! The flower girls were Andy's two young nieces, and I found some gorgeous white dresses from Next that they loved (very good for twirling!).
Homegrown Hospitality are local caterers who specialise in homegrown and locally sourced food. We went for sharing plates, with a mix of tapas-style foods including patatas bravas, dates wrapped in Serrano ham, summer vegetable galette, halloumi and pepper skewers, skirt steak with salsa verde, vegetarian stuffed mushrooms, and a number of fresh salads. For dessert, we had mini lemon and passion fruit tarts and creme brulees, along with kilos of fresh-grown cherries from High House Fruit Farm (My uncle's fruit farm in Suffolk).
We hired The Yorkshire Bartender for the evening, who provided customised cocktails for us (Rhubarb Sours, Yorkshire Garden, Dark and Stormy, and Smoked Statesman). We served Sauvignon Blanc and Malbec with the meal.
Neil Jackson Photographic was amazing. We chose him because his style was really natural and not staged. As a wildlife photographer, he was excellent at capturing the right moments and was very fluid on the day, working with what was happening rather than choreographing anything. He made the effort to get to know us enough that we were comfortable having him there and relaxed in his presence, which made a real difference.
I walked down the aisle to I Giorni by Ludovicio Einaudo, and to go with the folky, meadowy vibe of the wedding, we played the theme from the Detectorists during the signing of the registry, which was really memorable. We left the church to Jackie Wilson's 'Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher'. We had friends do our music through the evening. Firstly a band called TwoBob, who are local folk musicians. They played some amazing music, including covers of a lot of our favourites, followed by the main act, DaisyB & The Daisychain, who are two of Andy's friends and who were phenomenal, featuring another friend who joined them on guitar as a surprise. Our first dance was to Landslide by Stevie Nicks.
All me—I really loved getting creative and designing and sourcing it all myself; I wouldn't have had it any other way!
Also all by me—my sister gifted me a calligraphy workshop, so I ordered handmade paper from Imagine DIY and hand lettered the invitations. I also made a linoleum print motif, which I printed on each invite to complete the look, and then Andy got stuck in with the wax seals on each invite. I made all the welcome signs and seating charts myself, lettered each place setting in the same style as the invites, and did the same with the table numbers! I ordered natural handmade soaps from a wonderful small-scale producer called Tin Shed Soaps for the wedding favours, which everyone loved and made the whole marquee smell incredible!
It's so hard to pick just one moment, but it was really nice driving back from the Church, just Andy and me, and stopping at a favourite spot to have a glass of champagne together and get a couple of photos capturing the excitement of having just gotten married! Then arriving at the marquee to a crowd of all our favourite people dancing to our favourite music, played by friends! And the flowers. They totally stole the show, and I had so much fun growing them with my mum and arranging them with her and a whole tribe of our friends and family.
Enjoy the process, trust your gut, and stay true to who you are. It's so easy to get swept up in what other people are doing and find yourself off course, but what we loved about our wedding was how unique it was; everyone told us they'd never been to a wedding quite like it, and just by doing the things the way they mattered most to us, we created something really magical. It may not be how everyone else does it, but if it works for you, that's what's important! I'd also say get stuck in! I look back on the week before and it was so busy because we did it all ourselves, but even though the day itself flew by in a blur (like everyone says it does), it also felt like our wedding lasted a week rather than a day because we had such an extended time with all the people we love!
Gift List: The Wedding Present Company
Photography: Neil Jackson Photographic
Marquee: Inspired Event Structures
Transport: Classic Carhire Yorkshire
Florals: Homegrown Woofield Flowers
Bridal Fashion: Harrogate Wedding Lounge Veil & Lilian West Dress , Hobbs Shoes
Groom's Fashion: Hugo Boss linen-style suit, Loake Brogues, Belfast Bow Company Tie
Make-up: Amy George Makeup
Hair: Lauren McRae Professional Wedding Hair
Bridesmaids: Monsoon
Flower Girls & Page Boys Fashion: Next
Catering: Homegrown Hospitality High House Fruit Farm
Drinks: The Yorkshire Bartender
Music: TwoBob, DaisyB & The Daisychain
Wedding Favours: Tin Shed Soaps